Social media have compounded the pressure, and responded to it. Any individual or organization with enough credibility can and should be a news outlet. Including brands.

Recognizing that information gathered by established newsrooms doesn’t satisfy the demands for hyper-segmented audiences, Facebook launched a news component (FBNewswire) that verifies content posted by the would-be journalists among its 1.3 billion active users.

Brands, particularly those with devoted followings, are geared to play the same role in social media. Because audience attention is split between news, entertainment, personal interests and brands, whichever channel provides the most engaging, accurate, timely and objective content is the one that wins followers.

That’s why many brands are adopting the best practices of traditional news outlets. The smartest ones know that the era of the sales pitch is coming to a close. As they build networks of subject matter experts and replace marketing messages with well-sourced and objective content, traditional news outlets can only watch their audiences decline.

I am a career entrepreneur, business strategist, and creative director with a passion for emerging platforms in the digital media and marketing space. I believe that creativity is the most valuable resource on the planet.
As president and founder of /newsrooms, I am responsible for strategic and creative teams that generate social media content and marketing conversion for companies intent on leading in their business categories.